Global Problems

Global Problems

POVERTY
Poverty is a worldwide problem that produces many other problems (->famine). People living in poverty often commit crimes to support themselves or their families. Poor people don’t often have enough food, which leads to malnutrition (getting sick from not eating the right types of food) and starvation. Poor countries also don’t have a good health care system, which leads to a population that is ill and has many diseases. We see these problems in many African countries like Chad and Nigeria, as well as in Central American countries like Guatemala. People in Africa are exploited by huge companies, they had no control of their raw materials and crops, and they have no profit from it. Another problem of poor countries is education – there are no schools and people who aren’t educate can’t get a good job, so they can’t earn money and it has serious economic consequences.
 
CHILD LABOUR
Problem especially in developing countries, children are working on plantations with cotton, cocoa, etc. Children have to feed their family, or if they have no family, they have to feed themselves or their siblings. Child labour is profitable for the employers, because they pay only a little money to children.
 
DISEASES
The biggest threat is AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome). It is a disease of the human immune system caused by the HIV (human immunodeficiency virus). It’s spreading all around the world very quickly, it’s problem especially in developing countries, because many of the local people have never heard of AIDS and they don’t know how to protect themselves. AIDS is transmitted by blood and other body fluids; it means it can be transmitted by sexual intercourse, from pregnant woman to her child, by breastfeeding or by a needle which was used by infected person.
 AIDS itself doesn’t kill, but it attacks human’s immune system, so the body cannot protect itself against infections and that causes death. Treatments for AIDS can slow the course of the disease, but there is no known cure or vaccine that would cure the disease completely.
 
WARS
There were two WW in the history of mankind: The WWI started in 1914 after the assassination of the Austro-Hungarian successor Ferdinand d’Este in Sarajevo and ended in 1918 with the victory of the Allies. The WWII started on the 1st of September 1939 with attacking Poland, and it ended in 1945. (Atomic bombs were dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima)
(Civil war in former Yugoslavia – Serbs x Croats, Korean War, Vietnam War, Iraq War – president Saddam Hussein was captured)
 
TERRORISM
Terrorist are people who use violence or threaten with violence to reach political, religious or ideological target. Terrorism in the Arabic World has its origin in the 80s. Originally, these groups were focused on fighting against Soviets in Afghanistan. The most dangerous terrorist group is Al-Qaida which was founded in 1988 and they are responsible for the attack on World Trade Centre in 2001. (They hijacked 4 planes and they crashed two of them into the Twin Towers, killing everyone on board and many others working in the buildings.) Early the terrorism was used for political reasons (like kidnapping or assassinations of important political representatives), but today terrorist want to make us scared and afraid of them.
 
DRUGS
Drugs are the main problem that we are facing today. The illegal drug market has become more and more profitable. There are 2 main kinds of drugs – hard (cocaine, heroin) and soft (caffeine, nicotin, cannabis, thein). They can all cause addiction illness or even death. There are more young addicts today than ever before.
 
UNEMPLOYMENT
Unemployment is problem of many countries. It usually appears more in less developed areas of the country or where a large factory was closed down. The employers usually search for someone with higher level of education, special abilities (working with computers, typing, and knowledge of languages…) and specialization. And the appliers with lack of education loose a chance to have a well-paid job. Problem for graduated – they have no working experiences which are required.
However, each country has special programs for unemployed people to help them. They get benefits from the state.
 
TRAFFICKING IN PEOPLE
Women are sold for prostitution; children are sold for their organs or also for prostitution.
 
REFUGEES
Refugees are running away from their country because of wars, political system, social or economic problems etc. They stay in refugee camps.
 
GLOBALIZATION
Globalization is bad for our economy – we don’t produce our own good and we import everything (for example garlic)
 
SOLUTION
The rules of international trade are in favour of rich countries and powerful companies. Millions of farmers from the developing countries depend on selling their crops to survive, but the prices are below the cost of production.
The international Fair trade system guarantees a better trading conditions for the developing countries, for example fair prices for their products, so they can plan their future and spend the money on social and environmental projects. The system support more direct trading relationships so that producers get a bigger share of the export price.
The International Committee of the Red Cross – protects victims of wars and provides them help
UNICEF (The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund – helps and protects children, especially in developing countries, fights against malnutrition, diseases, illiteracy, etc.
The Salvation Army – help for homeless